Harry Potter and the War of the Equals
by Skablack
Summary: Harry begins his sixth year at Hogwarts, and with Sirius' death looming over him and the prospect of his final battle with Voldemort, Harry can't even sleep at night. New secrets are uncovered, as are feelings Harry didn't know he had. Will he make it thr


"Give up little boy... give up, you will never conquer the Dark Lord..." And the high pitched, cold laugh woke him up with a start, again. Sweating, Harry pushed himself up in bed. So this was how it was going to be every night. No matter how hard he tried, there was just no getting over the fact that he know knew how his life would end. No, not end, he told himself, not if he was going to succeed at conquering Lord Voldemort for good. Its not that he was scared, but the prospect of the final battle haunted him day and night, and it worried him. He was the one, the only one who could vanquish Voldemort, and if he didn't succeed... Don't think about it anymore, he told himself, think about something cheerful. But what? Every time he told himself that, an image of Sirius popped into his head, and the thoughts that followed were no better than the ones he had had before. It seemed that he was always thinking about Sirius or Voldemort, from one to the other and back again. No wonder he couldn't sleep.  
  
Why did Sirius have to die? he thought for the millionth time. It just wasn't right, it shouldn't have happened, and it was all his fault, he thought, his eyes getting red again. At that moment a knock at the door and another high pitched voice broke into his thoughts. "Harry, wake up. Wake up!" Ugh. "Waaake up!"  
  
"I'm coming!" Harry yelled, irritated. "Well hurry! House chores! We're going out for Dudley's birthday and when we come back I expect the house to be completely clean!" Another whack at the door and she was gone.  
  
Harry smiled. Excellent, the whole day alone, and the house to himself, not that he liked the house, but without the Dursley's it didn't seem so bad. At that moment Hedwig came soaring through the window, and Harry smiled again. It had a letter from Ron, and the Daily Prophet, which he had recently started getting.  
  
Hey Harry, how you holding up? Hermione's already staying here with us, and we were wondering when you would be able to come. Mum says Dumbledore wants you to stay at the Dursley's for a while, I don't get it, but he'll have his reasons I guess. Loads of weird stuff have been going on here, you'll see when you read the Prophet (now that the ministry knows the truth it's a bit more reliable). You Know Who's gaining power everyday, and we haven't been able to catch any of his supporters, or at least so the Prophet says, things don't look good. We don't really know much, the order's keeping things really secret, we think they might have found out something, maybe they even caught someone last week, and by the way they were acting it seemed important, but we don't know more about it. Percy still won't talk to mum or dad, I suppose the stupid git's too proud to apologize. Anyway, send us an owl with the date you'll be arriving at headquarters ASAP. See you soon, Ron.  
  
Headquarters? So the order was still using Sirius' house. And he was going to go there, again. He didn't really know what to make of that. He turned to the Daily Prophet. A feeling of dread crept to his stomach. He didn't want to open the paper just yet. Instead he grabbed a muggle pen and scribbled a note to Ron and Hermione.  
  
Hi Ron, and Hermione as well, I'm doing fine, thanks in great measure to the food you sent me on my birthday, I would have starved without it. I think I'll have to stay here till next week, or so, I don't know, you guys should know more than me. Keep me informed of anything that goes on in the order, and YOU tell me when I might be able to join you. And, by the way, Hermione, do you know any cleaning spells that I might use to clean up the house? Send back today please. Thanks. Bye, Harry.  
  
That's done. He wondered what was really going on out there. He turned to the paper again, and reached for it. Now it was time to face the truth. 


End file.
